Quote:
Originally Posted by harls
This is one major difference I notice having lived in Quebec for the last 16 years (I'm originally from MB). Distances here are more relevant. Two hours to go to Montreal from Ottawa, and I know many people make that trip every day, but in the prairies, it's like a huge event (going to the city). Here it's just like.. different. I can't explain it, and I'm not trying to belittle it. I remember many times "going to Winnipeg" and it was a momentous event.. which culminated with a visit to Polo park.
..And we had a shitty 2 lane highway
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Sort of... A day trip to Saskatoon from Regina... not a big deal, just a little over 2 hours. If you're going to any sizable city further away, it's 5+ to Winnipeg, 6+ to Calgary, and 8-ish to Edmonton. The major cities are generally more spaced out in the prairies than they are in the East (with much less in between and virtually no transit options). So yes, a trip will generally entail a bit more of an event to make it worth it.
As for some of the influence maps showing NHL teams on Saskatchewan... Sask doesn't really have regional affiliations for the NHL anymore. In the older populace it's definitely Montreal vs Toronto, but I generally find that anyone 30 and younger will usually match up with whichever team was hot when they started to become interested. A lot of younger kids are fans of Chicago and Pittsburgh... We're pretty isolated/self-contained in a lot of ways for that kind of thing. The Riders rule over everything... The Rush have started to pick up interest (and that carries into Regina a bit too). The Huskies and Rams have a fair amount of passing interest (Huskies definitely have more of a following in Stoon than the Rams do in Regina). And then the Hilltops/Thunder and the WHL get a fair bit of play. A lot of the other non-provincial sports get media attention, but the interest is far more sparse and spread out rather than one outside region influencing the dynamic.
(Other Saskies, feel free to dispute that.. but it's the way it seems to me).